1. A KHL Group Publication www.khl.com/actA KHL Group Publication www khl com/actt
The magazine for the crane, lifting and transport industry
March 2016
Volume 12 ■ Issue 3AMERICAN CRANES & TRANSPORT
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Boom dollies offer unique
solutions for transporting
high capacity cranes
B d lli ff i
Hello Dolly!
ROUNDTABLE:
Permitting
TOP LIST:
SPECIALIZED
LIFTING50
Official domestic
magazine of
the SC&RA
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2. 32 ACT MARCH 2016
PRODUCT FOCUS BOOM DOLLIES
D.Ann Shiffler talked
to some of the pioneers
in the manufacture of
boom dollies, which make
transporting cranes
easier, safer and more
economical.
B
oom dollies are critical
components in the fleets of
companies that own and
transport larger capacity cranes. While
boom dollies make crane transport easier
and more economical, they are also
highly specialized pieces of equipment.
There still is no “one size fits all” boom
dolly, although product standardization is
moving forward.
To understand the evolution of boom
dollies it’s important to know their
history. Tony Niese, owner of Nelson
Manufacturing, said the first boom dolly
was built by Nelson in 1962 for a P&H
crane. Later that decade Nelson built load
transfer axles, another precursor to today’s
boom dolly, for transporting conventional
lattice boom cranes on a truck chassis.
“We built the first ones in the early 1960s
and it was a rare thing at the time,” Niese
said. “There weren’t a lot out there until
the early 1970s when we started building
them for Grove truck cranes.”
Nelson would work with Grove on the
specs for the dolly and then when it was
built, the Nelson team would put the dolly
on a truck and send a couple of workers to
the Grove facility to weld the connecting
lugs onto the Grove booms.
“We’d run the unit over the scales and
that’s how they decided where to put the
connecting lugs,” he said.
In time Nelson started making boom
dollies for more crane manufacturers, and
the concept became a viable solution for
moving higher capacity truck cranes and
eventually the more sophisticated and
heavier all terrain cranes.
While Nelson manufactures a wide range
of trailers for the transportation industry,
the boom dolly segment is a niche
business that is growing.
“The goal is to move a crane over the
road,” Niese said. “The boom dolly allows
you to spread the weight and get the wheel
base longer to meet state requirements for
weights and axles.”
Custom challenges
The most challenging issue for boom
dolly manufacturers is that every crane
has a different type of hook up to the
dolly, and every state has its own rules for
what they will allow when driving a heavy
crane.
“Some states have the same rules for
trucks and trailers and some have a
completely different set of rules for
cranes,” said Niese. “For instance in
Pennsylvania, you only need a two-
axle dolly but you can’t transport
counterweight. In Texas you may need a
three-axle dolly but you can throw on a
few slabs of counterweight. In California,
you will most likely need wide-spread axle
spacing with a self-steer rear axle.”
Boom dolly manufacturers have tried to
standardize components but they are still
difficult to mass produce.
“If you have a five-axle AT carrier,
which is very common to require a dolly,
the number of variants is unbelievable
depending on the make of the crane,” said
Niese. “Tadano, Liebherr, Grove, Terex
and Link Belt, all these cranes require
completely different attachments and
connectors.”
Like most boom dolly manufacturers,
Nelson builds them for all brands of
cranes.
“Our engineering groups work with all
the crane manufacturers very well and get
excellent cooperation,” he said.
Boom dollies are produced directly for
the crane manufacturers, and they also are
produced for individual crane owners.
Hello Dolly!
A Link-Belt HTC-3140 is rigged for transport
using a Greenfield two-axle boom dolly.
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3. 33MARCH 2016 ACT
BOOM DOLLIES PRODUCT FOCUS
“A lot of times you will have a crane used
in Texas and then it gets sold to someone
in Iowa,” Niese said. “Then they will
need a new or different style dolly. This
happens a lot when people trade or move
cranes around. A crane owner may have a
boom dolly in their yard and we will work
with them to get new components so that
it will work with a different crane in the
yard.”
Nelson boom dollies are always custom
designed to fit the specific make and
model of the crane. Model variations
include axle configurations and tower
designs. Nelson builds four types of
boom dolly models: tandems, tri-axle,
widespread and multi-axle. All their
boom dollies come with manual locking
pins, steel tread plate fenders, spring
suspension, steel wheels and radial tires.
Options include air operated locking
pins, aluminum tread plate fenders,
air-ride suspensions, aluminum wheels
and custom color finishes. Nelson also
designs boom dollies that can carry crane
counterweights.
New solutions
Another prominent boom dolly producer
is TransWorld Manufacturing, a legacy
company from Jake’s Crane, Rigging &
Transport International. Jake’s was the
first crane company in Las Vegas, NV and
was founded in 1946 by Jake Dieleman.
“Because of our proximity to California
and their strict bridge and weight laws,
Jake’s designed and built street legal
dollies, special heavy haul trailers and
cranes to mobilize quickly and efficiently
to jobsites throughout the region,” said
Crystal Dieleman, granddaughter of Jake
Dieleman and now owner of TransWorld
Manufacturing. “In the late 1980s Jake’s
pioneered a super heavy transport system
known as ‘JXS’ with 13 patented features
and capable of hauling up to 250 tons.”
To accomplish this 13 to 21 axle
modular system, it was necessary to
employ a hydrogas suspension, which at
the time was not legal in California.
“We worked closely with Caltrans and
after extensive testing conducted by a U.C.
Berkeley PhD, including an earthquake
simulator as well as open road testing,
the hydrogas suspension was accepted in
California,” Dieleman said.
The JXS Heavy Haul system won a
SC&RA Job of the Year award in 1990 for
its innovation in hauling.
“Later in the 1990s we introduced the
articulating boom dolly to the market,”
said Dieleman. “In the 2000s we patented
the use of a steer axle on articulating
boom dollies because we realized that
the extra maneuverability greatly reduces
tire wear, improves turning radius and
mitigates unwanted stresses to the crane
boom during transport. Currently we
are focused on creating options for our
customers to back up their crane dolly
combination at variable angles.”
She explained that most articulating
dollies on the road today can only back
up straight. TransWorld recently received
a patent on a remote-control steering
system and patent-pending status on the
“Limiter Strap” to reduce the risk of jack-
knifing the dolly when reversing.
“We have produced many unique,
custom boom dollies for special
applications and have successfully worked
with manufacturers and crane rental
houses to make legal over 50 different
cranes throughout North America,” said
Dieleman. “Our product line was created
by a crane owner, for crane owners. Our
dolly designs are based on creating the
ideal configuration for your crane in the
region where the machine is expected to
work. We are continuously evolving our
product line so our customers can work
safer, smarter and more efficiently.
TransWorld offers a complete line of
boom dollies to ensure cranes are legal in
as many regions as possible.
“Our business grew out of a necessity for
legalizing heavy loads in multiple regions,”
said Dieleman. “That has become our
specialty over the years. We are highly
adept at designing and manufacturing
prototype and unique-application dollies
and we offer a variety of ways to enhance
your boom dolly, from a mounted
spreader bar, to back-up cameras, to light-
weight fabricated frames.
TransWorld dolly towers pivot fore and
aft to reduce the forces traveling through
the crane boom during travel.
“Based upon our in-depth research
on suspension options, we offer air-ride
suspension as standard, though we will
install leaf springs on request. For those
interested in protecting their investment
with the smoothest ride, a hydrogas
suspension is available on request,” she
said.
Dieleman said her company will be
announcing a new boom dolly system in
the near future.
The first boom dolly produced by HMR Supplies was for its sister crane company CR Holland in
the mid-2000s. Since that time, HMR created a product line that includes two-axle, three-axle,
and four-axle boom dollies.
Sims Crane transports its Tadano ATF180G-5
using a three-axle Nelson boom dolly.
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cSims Crane transports its Tadano ATF180G-5
A new Grove GMK-5250L using a
Nelson tri-axle dolly was sold through
Grove dealer Anderson Machinery and
the end user is Dalton Crane.
>34
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4. 34 ACT MARCH 2016
PRODUCT FOCUS BOOM DOLLIES
Natural fit
HMR Supplies has made a name for
itself by engineering and manufacturing
equipment for the heavy haul industry,
according to Norma Hertzer. The first
Holland Dollie was built in 1981, and since
that time HMR Supplies has continued to
engineer and develop products that offer
standard and custom solutions for heavy
transport and onsite moving. Currently,
HMR manufactures everything from crane
tag axles to dual lane transporters.
The first boom dolly produced by HMR
was for its sister crane company in the
mid-2000s. Since that time, HMR has
found the boom dolly to be a natural fit
for a standard product, Hertzer said. HMR
Supplies offers two-, three- and four-axle
boom dollies.
“HMR has leveraged their experience
and design expertise from heavy hauling
and off-road transportation into boom
dollies for the crane industry,” Hertzer
said. “HMR will match the requirements
of any crane make and model.”
HMR provides aluminum options for
fenders, wheels and hubs to create an
eye-catching dolly and reduce weight, she
said. Drum, disc or antilock brakes are all
available.
“HMR will equip the dolly with storage
boxes, outrigger pad, ladder, cribbing,
and spreader bar storage at the customer’s
request,” said Hertzer. “All dolly models are
available with single, split or tilting tower
options. Three axle dollies are available
with an optional lift axle. In addition,
either three or four axle dollies are
available with caster axles. Counterweight
storage on the dolly is always available as
an option. HMR works with the customer
to create a dolly for their needs.” ■
customer with a GVWR of 67,500 pounds
and the versatility to haul additional crane
components on top of the boom dolly.
Greenfield’s four-axle Model D4 is used
in states that recognize a quad axle group
and allows a permit limits of up to 72,000
pounds. Tire wear is an issue due to the
axle spacing between the first and last axle
of this unit. A self-steer axle is often on the
rear axle position to minimize tire wear,
and this also reduces the turning forces
going into the crane boom.
Several states have stronger regulations
than others where the use of a wide-
spread dolly is required, Anzolo said. The
state of California requires axle groups
to be properly spaced in order to obtain
maximum axle load permits. When the
spacing between two axles of the first
group are within 18 feet of the closest axle
of the adjacent groups, California will
recognize this situation as “close coupling.”
Sheer necessity
Greenfield Products started designing and
manufacturing boom dollies in 2007 out
of sheer necessity by several crane dealers
in North America, according to Gustavo
Anzolo.
The boom dolly market was hurting
due to long lead times and a very
limited supplier base,” Anzolo said.
“Greenfield has always been a very diverse
manufacturer, and at the time we were
already designing and producing our
own heavy-duty trailers for the U.S. port
industry. The crane boom dolly was seen
as a good fit to our family of products.”
Anzolo said the economic downturn
in 2008 delayed the development and
improvement of Greenfield’s boom dolly
line, but it also allowed them to strengthen
its product design.
“By treating each new unit produced
with the utmost importance, we found
ourselves rapidly becoming a reliable
source for the product,” he said. “In the
short time since then, we have acquired a
wealth of knowledge from working with
various crane manufacturers and the crane
models offered in North America, and can
offer solutions that meet our customers’
needs, DOT regulations and our own high
standards of safety and dependability.”
The Greenfield Products boom dolly
family includes two-axle Model B2 and
C2; three-axle Model C3 and D3; and
four-axle Model D 4.
The two-axle Model B2 and C3 are
typically used with truck-mounted booms
and all terrain cranes with capacities
between 100 to 200 tons.
Greenfield’s 3-axle Model C3 and
D3 are the most common boom dolly
configuration. Three axles provide the
A Liebherr LTM 1300-6.2
meets requirements for transport
using this three-axle Greenfield dolly.
TransWorld’s dolly towers pivot fore
and aft to reduce the forces travelling
through the crane boom during travel.
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